Easier Said than Done
by ItsTeotwawki
Summary: Guess what? Chapter 1 has been revised, and has a new ending. This fic is now a oneshot, but it's a long oneshot. What the ending of DoC should have been: Shelkeless, and involving a little Yuffietine. Completed.


**Revised A/N:** I realized a few days ago that I was never going to write a chapter two. I'm horrible at reunions, (hehehehe, no pun intended!) So I decided that I'd just add on to this one. Here it is, two pages longer.

**A/N: **I have absolutely no idea how old Marlene is when Dirge of Cerberus takes place. She looks like an eight year old, so that's how old I'll say she is. If anyone knows for sure, feel free to let me know. I might not change it (Since I have no idea how) but it would be appreciated in case I ever find out.

And note the conspicuous absence of Shelke, whom I loathe beyond words. She is not in this story, because I don't like her. This story is for anyone who's ever wanted a Shelke-less ending to DoC…

* * *

"…_. recent news, AVALANCHE…_" Click. _"….city of Kalm was…"_ Click. _"…interview, ShinRa Power Company denied any association with…" _Click. _"…WRO still engaged in…" _Click. _"…calling themselves DeepGround, rumored to be part of a…" _Click. "_…continues for missing AVALANCHE member…" _Click. 

Inside, someone switched the radio off. Yuffie didn't mind- she'd already heard everything she needed to know. Avalanche had saved the world again. Shinra was playing dumb. Cloud was still looking for Vincent, or at least signs of what had happened to him.

Yuffie thought that it was a big waste of time. She'd been there, standing right next to the rest of them when Chaos/Vincent had pursued Omega higher, higher, higher… and then, there'd been an explosion, or something- she still didn't know what had happened. The sky had gone blank… and then the stars had re-appeared, dotting the vast expanse with pinpricks of light. The stars had re-appeared, but Vincent had not.

She heaved a sigh. Not that she was a pessimist, or anything, but she knew that Cloud would return empty-handed. He'd called the other day, but when she picked up, he'd asked to talk to Tifa. He'd sounded kind of odd, and Tifa hadn't looked too happy when she'd heard whatever it was Cloud had to say.

In Yuffie's mind, that indicated the fact that the search had turned up nothing.

Her thoughts had been confirmed when Tifa had told her that Cloud was coming back the day after tomorrow, if not sooner. She'd smiled as she said it, and had reassured the ninja that everything would work out.

_"It always has, hasn't it?" Tifa asked. "We've always been all right." _

_And she had a point. They'd been through a lot, but somehow, they'd always come out on top. However, there was one notable exception. _

_"What about Aeris?" Yuffie pointed out. "How'd _that_ come out all right? She died, remember?" She'd felt bad immediately after saying it. Tifa's face went blank, and Cloud had deliberately left the room without saying a word._

But in a way, it had worked out with Aeris. She'd returned to the Lifestream, become one with the Planet. They'd encountered her again, when Sephiroth had returned. She'd helped them, even though she was no longer with them.

But somehow, it didn't make Yuffie feel any better. They were treating her as though she was a little kid, as though she couldn't deal with death. She could too handle death-she'd killed, and seen people killed. It wasn't like she needed to be shielded from the harsh world- she'd already seen her share.

Yuffie could hear people moving around inside: The thudding of Barret's heavy boots, Marlene's shrill voice saying something imperceptible, and Cid's answering laugh. She knew that they were affected by this loss too, and yet they'd obviously moved on. It didn't make sense-why was she the only one who was sitting outside on the steps, watching the road that lead out of Midgar?

The door opened and shut behind her, and Marlene ran out. "Watcha doing, Yuffie?" She asked, sitting down next to the ninja and resting her chin on her knees.

"Watching." Yuffie said. "Wanna watch too?" It felt better to have someone to talk to, even if it was only an eight year old.

"Sure." Marlene leaned forward eagerly. "What are you watching?" The steady stream of people on the street passed by them without a second glance. Most of them were on foot, a few on bikes, but all of them seemed to be ignoring the two girls sitting on the steps of Seventh Heaven.

Yuffie thought for a minute. "We're watching for…" and that was when she realized that even _she_ didn't know. Well, she did, but she just didn't want to admit it. Not to Marlene, and definitely not to herself.

"Are you waiting for Cloud?" Marlene asked solemnly, her dark eyes widening as she added, "And Vincent?"

It was as good an answer as any, Yuffie supposed. She thought it was funny that Marlene found it so easy to believe that Cloud could save the day one more time, but mostly, she just felt ashamed. At least Marlene hadn't given up.

They sat and watched the people go by, and talked about nothing.

* * *

The next morning, Yuffie awoke to the sound of a motorcycle engine in the street outside. She glanced at the clock with bleary eyes, and saw that it wasn't quite morning any more. That was strange- she hardly ever slept in. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she hadn't gone to bed until six in the morning. So, if she got up at one thirty, it didn't really count as sleeping in, did it? 

Her mind tried to connect something with the motorcycle engine, but couldn't quite do it. It was something extremely significant, she was sure. She just couldn't remember what it was.

"Motorcycle." She mumbled, and buried her head under the pillow. "Loud."

The door slammed downstairs, and there was a confused babble of voices. It all blurred together in Yuffie's mind. "Door." She said. The three words drifted through her head, trying and failing to connect with each other. "Motorcycle."

And then she sat bolt upright with a gasp as the connection was finally made. "Cloud!" she exclaimed, and hopped out of bed, running out into the hallway.

And then she remembered that she was only wearing a long t-shirt, and ran back into the room to find some pants. Considering the fact that the male:female ratio in the house was extremely unbalanced, she decided that it was a good idea.

She impatiently pulled on a pair of pants, and ran down the stairs, managing to hit each board with both feet, producing a satisfactory bang. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen, and they looked up as she thudded down the stairs. "What?" She asked, noticing that everyone was staring at her.

"You make a lotta noise, for a ninja." Barret remarked, breaking the silence.

Normally, Yuffie would have had a barrage of taunts ready to counter this statement, such as 'Yeah, well at least I don't look like a rapper wannabe', or maybe, 'Your mom makes a lot of noise for a ninja.' But for the moment, she ignored him, and sought out Cloud. He looked away as soon as they made eye contact, and shook his head.

But she'd already come to that conclusion, seeing as how no one in the room was wearing a red cape.

Instead of letting her disappointment show, Yuffie just jumped down the remaining stairs, and gave Cloud a hug. "You're a good guy, aren't you, Spikey." She said fondly, managing to mess up his oh-so-perfectly spiky blonde hair before he pushed her off of him.

On the outside, she was smiling, but what she was thinking was, _you failed._

* * *

After a few hours of thinking it over, Yuffie came up with a genius plan. In fact, her plan was so good; she was surprised that she hadn't come up with it before. 

She'd call Vincent's cellphone.

Sure, he probably wouldn't answer, one way or the other, but she'd feel better if she could just leave a message. Unfortunately, Yuffie didn't have her own phone, and other that stealing Cloud's or Tifa's, that left the office phone as her only remaining option.

Things seemed to be working out _too _well: Tifa had left for the day; Cid was working on airship repairs with the help of Barret. Marlene had tagged along, so that meant that the only person still at home was Spike. He was outside doing something to his bike, so that meant she had the house to herself.

Obviously, Vinnie was with his dead chick. One way or another, that's where he'd go if he was feeling anti-social and anti-life. Or, if he was dead too, he'd still be with his dead chick. Ashamed at herself for having such a sappy thought, Yuffie picked up the phone and slowly dialed the number.

"It's not ringing." She said to no one in particular. "Why isn't it ringing?"

"The number you have dialed is temporarily out of service." An automated voice answered coolly. "For 1 gil, we will keep trying. Press star to hang up or pound to try again. Message 2 1 0 7 a." Yuffie hated the automated telephone voice. She always expected to hear, 'this message will self-destruct in five seconds. Five, four, three, etc.' It was just that kind of voice. With a grimace, she hung up and took a few deep breaths.

Then she hit redial.

This time, Yuffie actually managed to reach voicemail. She heard the beep, and suddenly realized that for the first time in a long time she was at a loss for words.

"Umm… yeah. It's me, Yuffie. I really don't have anything to say, except that it's getting kind of boring and depressing around here. I thought that it would be the other way around, since you weren't here, but it looks like I was wrong. Yeah, that was supposed to be a joke. I thought I'd tell you 'cause you don't have a sense of humor. Anyway, if you think you're being noble or cool or something, you're not. You're actually just being a dumbass. So, please get back here before I have to come after you myself."

She stopped as she realized that going after him herself was what she probably should do anyway. Sometimes, she surprised herself with her own brilliance.

"Actually, that's a pretty good idea. Don't go anywhere, 'cause I'm coming after you." The ninja almost hung up, but then something occurred to her. "Oh, and if you're in that stupid coffin, I'll put you there for good. Bye."

Well, then. She'd just have to take matters into her own extremely resourceful hands. Time to go begging to Spikey.

* * *

She found Cloud out back performing a routine tune-up on his motorcycle. That thing was like his baby- he always cleaned it up and made sure nothing had happened to it after every time he took it out. He needed to get a life. Yuffie actually had a plan for that too, but it would have to wait. 

"Clouuuuud," She began in a wheedling tone of voice, but he shook his head almost immediately.

"No way. Not interested." He said quickly, checking the oil with that little metal thing- a dipstick, or whatever it was called. _He _was a dipstick. That spiky hair probably interfered with the common sense part of his brain, as well as the speech centers and the part that controlled the smile muscles.

Yuffie all but pouted. "You haven't even heard what I have to say yet, " she protested. "Listen, I was wondering if I could-"

"No."

"-get a ride out to-"

"No."

"That cave place where Vinnie's dead chick is."

"N- Yuffie, I was already out there." Cloud said almost apologetically. "It was one of the first places I looked. There was no one there." He screwed the cap back on, and stood up. "It wouldn't do any good."

She looked at him in sudden understanding. "You're giving up?" she realized. "You've already given up. Sheesh, Spike, That's not very fair. Next time _you_ disappear without a trace, see if I come looking for you." The ninja folded her arms, and glared at her friend. "Let me know if you're going to do it though, so I can warn Tifa. _She'd be pretty sad and worried, you know."_

Hoping that the extra emphasis on the last few words would get her point across, Yuffie waited. It was as close as she could get to actually saying that she was worried about Vincent without actually saying it.

Finally, she thought she saw a glimmer of understanding in Cloud's eyes. "Fine." He said resignedly. "I'll take you out there. But…I don't want you to be disappointed." He kicked up the kickstand, and climbed onto the motorcycle.

"I won't be," Yuffie assured him, scrambling up onto the seat behind him and holding on tightly.

* * *

After a long moment of indecision, he finally picked up the cellphone that he'd discarded weeks ago, immediately upon his arrival, and began to dial the number. For once, it didn't go to voicemail- someone answered, not the person he'd been calling, but the one he'd been hoping to reach. Sometimes, things worked out so well. And it was about time they started working out in his favor, after all. 

The eerie bluish light reflected off the water and the glistening metal of the lethal claw he wore as he listened in silence to the chattering voice on the other end. For once, he really didn't mind the incessant noise- it was actually welcome after two weeks of silence. But after a while, he had to interrupt.

"Yuffie." To his surprise, she stopped talking almost immediately and listened to what he had to say. "I just wanted to say…thanks."

"Thanks for what?" she demanded. " I didn't do anything except leave a sappy message on your phone and get all emotional and stuff. I thought you'd be annoyed, or something."

He smiled slightly, hearing the faint sound of a motorcycle approaching from a distance. "It's… difficult to explain." He said. "Maybe we'll discuss it when you get here."

"I'm still mad at you for not coming home sooner," she informed him matter-of-factly.

"So am I."

* * *

Shitty ending, Oui? I'm not happy with it. I think I'm going to have to change it. 

But **Ye Olde Writer's Blocke** is about to come back in force- in fact, I think it just arrived. Wonderful, since I have creative writing homework to finish before I go to bed.

And tomorrow is Halloween, so I'm going to walk around my school dressed as John Constantine… (Oh joy. At first I wanted to be Reno, but the red dye I tried on my hair didn't work. Merde-Maudit.)

And the thing with the automated phone voice- I hate it too. That part of the story is entirely true. shudders

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the ridiculously long time it took to write the rest of this. Also sorry that it's long enough to wallpaper a room, but it's the lesser of two weevils. EVILS! I MEANT EVILS!!!

Please clicky the review button, even if you just want to say something totally irrelevant and unrelated to the fic. I'm totally cool with that.

Can't find it? Look down, right underneath the happy face.


End file.
